In an industrial facility or industrial field site, when an industrial automation controller is broken down, for example, as a result of a controller function failure or some other reason, it is very difficult to access the latest information and status of the industrial automation controller before the industrial automation controller broke down (together referred to as “pre-breakdown information”). The pre-breakdown information includes retained data, time of power down, and application crash data. In the case of a controller function failure, there is a difficulty because in order to access the pre-breakdown information, the industrial automation controller must be repaired first. In the case of a power off status, an operator must first find a backup power source and attach it to the industrial automation controller, and then extract needed data.